The international order that exists at any point in time is largely a function of the global balance of power. The liberal order that developed in the West during the Cold War is no exception to this rule, as it was mainly a response to the bipolar competition between the superpowers. When the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union fell apart, the world became unipolar, which allowed the United States and its European allies to try to make that Western liberal order truly global in nature.
